A curtain airbag of the generic type is disclosed in DE 10 2005 011 676 A1. Such a curtain airbag is installed in the roof rail or frame area of a motor vehicle and serves to protect a vehicle occupant in case of a side impact or in case of a rollover. Such a curtain airbag has an airbag skin, which exhibits two side walls connected by means of an edge region, whereby the airbag skin encloses a gas chamber. This gas chamber is divided into at least one protective area (i.e., an inflatable area which serves for the protection of the occupants) which is positioned in such a way that a vehicle occupant can impact against it, and at least one guide chamber which is in fluid communication with the protective area. Such a guide chamber is located in the area of a pillar, in particular a B pillar or a C pillar, and in an installed state, the guide chamber prevents the curtain airbag from being caught in a hollow space (which is often present between the pillar trim and the vehicle side structure) during expansion of the protective area.
Retaining means such as mounting links or fixing lugs, which are located on the top edge of the airbag skin, serve to secure the curtain airbag in the roof rail area of the motor vehicle. Two variants are described in DE 10 2005 011 676 A1 with regard to the arrangement of such retaining means: in one variant, no mounting link is located on the guide chambers themselves, but only on the left and right of the respective guide chamber. In the other variant, a mounting link is located on the top edge of one of the guide chambers.
Both variants can be disadvantageous in some cases: if a fixing device is not directly assigned to a guide chamber, it cannot be ensured in all installation situations that the guide chamber positions itself as desired in the hollow space between the trim and the internal structure of the motor vehicle. If a fixing device in the form of a fixing lug or mounting link is located on the top edge of the guide chamber, installation is often difficult, particularly if the curtain airbag is fixed in the vehicle as described in DE 10 2005 011 676 A1, namely with the top edge downwards.